Farm aid amounts up in air

Distribution policies in hands of USDA

Published: Wednesday, November 01, 2000

WAYNE BOARDA-J Farm Editor

The amount cotton and grain farmers receive from the latest disaster program, commodity leaders said Tuesday, will hinge on how the USDA implements provisions of the $1.6 billion package for those crops.

Actually, the $78 billion agriculture appropriations measure for 2001, signed Saturday by President Clinton, may include more than the $1.6 billion for crop loss, plus $500 million for dairy and $450 million for livestock.

The $1.6 billion for crop loss included in legislation approved early last month could increase because the bill's language stipulates that funding level ''and such sums as may be necessary.'' An aide to U.S. Rep. Larry Combest, R-Lubbock, called the disaster appropriation ''almost an open-ended amount.''

The package authorizes separate loss categories and thresholds for quantity and quality losses. The determination of who gets what will rest with the USDA's Farm Service Agency.

''We are recommending that FSA implement provisions authorizing specific assistance for the 2000 crop quality loss in a manner that provides maximum coverage for producers,'' said Phil Burnett, National Cotton Council executive vice president.

''We also have suggested that eligibility for quality loss payments be based on a threshold applied to the affected production and that producers who do not meet the individual thresholds for quality and quantity be allowed to combine quality and quantity losses as was done in 1998 and 1999.''

Unlike the 1998 and 1999 disaster bills, though, funding under the new law isn't capped so pro-ration of disaster payments won't be necessary.

Tim Lust, National Grain Sorghum Producers executive vice president, said that some sorghum producers should qualify under the quality language portion of the legislation. That's especially meaningful for those who planted the crop late, he said.

Some sorghum weights have been off from 56 down to 52 bushels, said Lust, pointing specifically to dryland production on the North Plains and into Oklahoma. There was less sorghum acreage this year on the South Plains, where growers often use the crop for replant on failed cotton ground.

Lust said his producers are being encouraged to maintain accurate records and document any losses so they can collect a share of the disaster money.

''This assistance is particularly timely,'' said Burnett. ''Many cotton producers are looking at a damaged crop this year and many are suffering from consecutive years of poor crops as a result of drought, hail and other weather-related disasters.''

The bill also authorizes USDA to provide financial assistance to producers for severe economic losses. The NCC is recommending that the USDA use that authority to make assistance available to growers who harvested a 2000 crop but suffered significant financial losses due to rapidly escalating, uncontrollable production expenses such as increased fuel costs.

When the appropriations committees passed the legislation early last month, Combest said the bill included ample funding for the USDA to ''take into account the full load of weather and financial burdens weighing heavily against the producer.''

''Congress has the track record of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers, with proven action this year expanding insurance coverage to crops and livestock and initiating early farm policy discussions with producers,'' said Combest, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee.

When the USDA closed the books in early October on the fiscal year just ended, it had distributed a record $28 billion in direct assistance to farmers and ranchers. Without the USDA assistance, farm income would have hit its lowest level since 1984.